Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Despite the President's new goal of reducing U.S. gasoline usage by 20% in the next ten years, the President's budget reverts to old, dirty energy and assumes that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain will be leased to oil companies for $7 billion.

"It is the height of irresponsibility to base the country's budget on highly speculative and dubious projections of lease revenues from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Leslie Catherwood, Associate Director, Wildlife Refuge Program.  "Instead of taking steps to chart a new energy direction for the country, this budget embraces the failed policies of the past and caters more to the need of profit-laden oil companies than the energy needs of our country."

Bureau of Land Management
The budget also proposes a $5.8 million boost in funding for the Bureau of Land Management oil and gas program - from $115,308 million appropriated in FY 2007 to $121,191 million requested for FY 2008 - but does not even mention the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System. In addition, BLM's wildlife program actually shows a slight decline, making it unclear how the administration proposes to fund its new $15 million Healthy Lands Initiative.

"The Healthy Lands initiative is a tacit acknowledgement of the havoc wreaked by the administration's oil and gas policies, but what we really need is a halt to new oil and gas leasing on sensitive lands, and adherence to protective wildlife stipulations on the leases that have already been issued, " said TWS Senior Policy Advisor Dave Alberswerth.

Selling Public Lands

"It's a sad commentary that the administration would completely ignore the overwhelming opposition that its misguided land sell-offs created last year by releasing a nearly identical proposal," said National Forest Program Director Michael Francis. "The American people do not want their lands sold off to remedy the administration's poor fiscal decisions."

For the second consecutive year, the President's Forest Service budget includes a proposal to sell off up to $800 million of National Forest lands. Although the full details of the land sale proposal are not yet available, there is every indication that it is nearly identical to the proposal made last February that would have sold up to 300,000 acres of National Forest lands across 35 states. The budget also once again proposes to sell up to 950,000 acres of BLM lands to raise $334 million over 10 years. Similar Forest Service and BLM proposals announced last year met with strong and widespread opposition from hunters, anglers, locally-elected officials, businesses, governors, and both Democratic and Republican Members of Congress. 
 
Land and Water Conservation Fund
Despite the President's campaign promise to "fully fund" the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund, the blueprint released today extends the pattern of deep cuts to the program seen in previous Bush Administration budgets. In FY 2007, the president requested only $85 million. For FY 2008, the Administration reduced that by more than 30 percent, to approximately $58 million. LWCF is authorized by Congress to receive up to $900 million annually.
 
"The President has campaigned on fully funding the LWCF program, but this is his seventh straight year of cutting the program," said Sarah Neimeyer, Budget and Appropriations Director, The Wilderness Society. "This request is a travesty for a program that has been our nation's premiere tool to create and preserve parks, forests, wildlife refuges and open space since 1964."

Forest Legacy Program
The President's budget proposal of $29 million for the Forest Legacy Program slashes more than 50% from the administration's FY2007 request ($61.5 million). The popular program assists states in conserving threatened private forestlands through public acquisition or purchase of development rights. A recent USDA Forest Service report, Forests on the Edge, projected that over 40 million acres of private forestlands will be developed by 2030, with significant impacts on water and other ecological resources.

"The President's budget would fund only 14 of the 82 Forest Legacy projects requested by over 40 states, leaving scores of special places at risk of being paved over," said Tom Gilbert, Director of Eastern Forest Conservation, The Wilderness Society.  "This comes at a time when their own federal agency, the USDA Forest Service, has documented enormous development pressures facing the nation's forestlands."

National Parks
On a positive note, the President's budget for the National Park System represents an unprecedented $258 million (14.3%) increase over requested fiscal year 2006 levels.

"The increased National Park Service funding is a step in the right direction," said The Wilderness Society's Kristen Brengel. "The funding would add nearly 500 permanent employees and several thousand seasonal employees. More rangers mean that parks visitors will experience these places in the way they were meant to, through ranger-led tours and active natural and cultural resource protection."

National Wildlife Refuges
To operate the nation's 545 wildlife refuges, the President's budget requests a mere $396 million.  This amount is far below the $700 million needed to fully fund the National Wildlife Refuge System. 

"The President's funding level for our nation's National Wildlife Refuge System fails to address the funding crisis that is forcing refuge managers across the country to eliminate staff, education programs and conservation activities," said Maribeth Oakes, Director, Wildlife Refuge Program.  "The failure to adequately fund our nation's refuges has crippled the Refuge System's ability to mange and restore wildlife habitat, safely maintain facilities and provide quality education and outdoor recreation programs for millions of visitors each year."

Statement from Bill Meadows, President, The Wilderness Society
"The fine points of the President's budget are once again out of touch with values and priorities shared by a majority of Americans. The administration is not listening to the millions of Americans who are asking the government to take care of our public lands."